Prosecutors have told the Georgia Supreme Court they did not deliberately delay the trial of accused murderer Bobby Lavon Buckner and cannot be faulted for lost evidence they blame on other law enforcement agencies.

The legal brief and arguments were filed in the state’s attempt to reverse Chatham County Superior Court Judge Penny Haas Freesemann’s May 30 dismissal of murder and kidnapping charges in the 2003 abduction and slaying of 12-year-old Ashleigh Moore because prosecutors violated the defendant’s right to a speedy trial.

According to documents prepared by Chief Assistant District Attorney David Perry and filed under District Attorney Larry Chisolm’s name, the state’s announcement in April 2011 that it would seek the death penalty was not an attempt at delay as Freesemann found in her order.

It blamed the state’s abandoning the penalty — four months and 20 days after it was announced — on lost evidence taken from the victim’s home and never properly logged into evidence.

It said any lost evidence occurred in the early portions of the investigation “and was not lost by the district attorney’s office either before or after the current administration.”

“There was nothing in the charging decision of the district attorney’s office to gain extra time,” Perry said in his legal argument.

And Perry said the state never asked for a continuance before Freesemann.

“Since the entry of (Perry), the state has not asked for a continuance,” Perry’s document said.

He arrived Dec. 1, 2010.

The state’s document, dated Sept. 24, was filed Sept. 4.

No date for oral arguments has been scheduled.

The case

The victim, an honor student at DeRenne Middle School, disappeared from her home at 6 Weiner Drive early April 18, 2003. Her body was found about three weeks later near the Savannah Marriott Riverfront on General McIntosh Boulevard.

Buckner, the 36-year-old boyfriend of Ashleigh’s mother, Michelle Moore, was arrested two days later on a probation violation.

He was first indicted Dec. 12, 2007, on child molestation, kidnapping and murder. He was re-indicted May 13, 2009, and finally on March 23, 2011, when the state announced it would seek the death penalty.

Once the death penalty was introduced, Georgia Capital Defenders office entered the case and filed more than 140 pre-trial motions. Judge Perry Brannen Jr. was replaced by Freesemann as part of the court’s revolving system for assigning death penalty cases.

Buckner transferred from the Chatham County jail June 4 and remains in state custody at Calhoun State Prison.

Perry told the court on Feb. 16, 2011, he had only been here “less than 90 days, and I’m not going to be up to speed when we get ready to go to trial. I’m not up to speed right now,” the response brief said.

Freesemann found prosecutors intentionally caused more delay by announcing their intent to seek the death penalty “on the very date the case was set to go to trial for the 10th time.”

She found the 53-month trial delay was “indeed presumptively prejudicial.”

The defense also argued that, despite the prosecution’s claim, it never asked for a continuance. The prosecution did not include continuances caused by its failure to meet discovery obligations, despite being ordered by the judge to do so on numerous occasions.

And the defense argued that the state’s conclusion and explanations as to why the lost evidence — “including evidence of law enforcement officers tampering with the alleged crime scene” — was not the fault of the district attorney’s office were not supported by “any citation of any factual source (and) blame as to which specific government agency may be at fault is irrelevant.”

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If Pennsylvania can arrest, have a trial, and sentence for Jerry Sandusky in one year, why did it take so long with Buckner? Somebody dropped the ball on this. My heart goes out to the family of this young girl.

"It's a little too little, It's a little too late. I'm a little too hurt and there's nothin' left that I've gotta say. You can cry to me baby but there's only so much I can take. It's a little too little, It's a little too late."

I am not a fan of Chisolm. He was incompetent as an ADA and was never qualified to be DA, but if there is lost evidence, that responsibility lies on the shoulders of SCMPD. I haven't seen any questioning of why SCMPD lost the evidence.

Chisolm does bear the weight of going for the Death Penalty on the scheduled date of trial. Another how stupid can you be moment for Chislom.

The big loss in all this is the death of Ashleigh Moore and the fact that it looks like her killer, Buckner will literally get away with murder.

Is Ashleigh's mother, Michelle Moore still working at the jail and is she still getting her boyfriends from jail once they are released? Yeah that idiot Michelle Moore shares some responsibility because of her total ignorance.

This is the werse case of sad in the world,Michelle Moore is the werse mother in the world, Buckner is the DEVIL, Chisolm is stupit, SCMPD (I don't even have to comment on them), and then when the dust clears that poor little girl had to die to pay for their sins! That's not fair. :-( They should charge the mother!!! WhiteSav...